If your not intending on using the efi, and will go with a carb, any Dakota truck would probably work. I'd have to take a look under that 4 door truck and see what the frame looks like, and if the drop will be in a good position for whatever cab/body you intend on putting on it.

As far as the V6 to V8 motor, the mounting pads on a Dakota bolt to the frame and those brackets are engine specific. 3.9 fits a 3.9, a 318 fits a 318, and the 4.7 fits a 4.7. How they might interchange between motors is anyone's guess. These days, all the electronics are motor specific, so swapping from, say, a 4.7 to a 318 means you get to swap the complete wiring harness and computer and you better have everything that matches the motor and trans (that came out of a Dakota, or the wiring will be wrong) you want to use. Weather the motor mounts are the same or not becomes a minor issue, you would probably use the ones attached to the motor you pulled out of a Dakota, and they will probably bolt to the frame.

The next thought on the motor mount is will the engine will remain in its original location as a hot rod is built? With my coupe, I moved the drive train back 7". Once you move the motor, whatever was there originally is a pretty mute point. In my case, I just added a 1/4" plate and moved the motor brackets and trans crossmember back the required distance (used what fit the motor and trans and adapted it to the frame where I wanted them to sit).

If you have the ability to swap a frame from one vehicle to something entirely different, motor mounts should be just another step in the frame swap process. Use whatever mounting brackets fit on the motor of choice, and modify them to fit the frame. Gene

the v6 and the v8 use the same motor mounts---we have put a 5.2 in the spot the 3.9 fit----also the motor mount ears actually unbolt off the frame---i have saved several sets and have just recently handed a couple to a friend so he could use them mounting a 5.7 hemi in his 34 plymouth coupe----the gen 1 dakota is just fine for the job at hand--i would watch for a single cab short or long bed.....

Dave, sorry to hear the rod went away. Hope you got decent money out of it.
As said, the early ones had the 5 lug pattern. Only 4s and V6s except the Shelby until 92 with the bowed nose.

96 and newer have OBDII, so you will want to avoid them or change it to an earlier drivetrain unless you want to mess with computers and wiring!

I'd look for a 92 318 magnum, 518 without torque converter.
You can install the whole wiring/PCM or swap to a carb-intake and electronic dist.
The trans will take any 727 converter.
You will have to swap discs in front for the 5 lug, and redrill or swap axles in back.


Here's one you could probably have together fairly quick aside from the rear fenders
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1948-DODG...=item2c53ee0840
There are guys here and the other site that have done these year trucks....

This one popped up recently

http://boise.craigslist.org/cto/5553288642.html

RUMBLON

Pictures don't work, but you can use nearly all of that Dakota. I used everything from a 90 Dakota on my coupe except the roof and cab back panel, Door shells, inner door panels, glass, the box sides, and about 200 lbs of odd stuff. Then I cut up the sheet metal and used most of it for patch panels. What you can use is only limited to what you can imagine a use for something. Gene

Daks around here are like gold apparently. Some scrapped out beaters with no titles are asking $1000. No thanks. Been looking for a pre OBDII V6 manual trans one for my project, but no luck so far.

...don't know exactly where you are located, and yes, I do know that West-Texas is a huge area.....but it didn't take long to find these. Hook up that trailer and get moving.


http://abilene.craigslist.org/cto/5522104391.html

http://sanangelo.craigslist.org/cto/5545440312.html